A bushy annual of arable margins with finely thread-cut leaves that have no smell when rubbed, and white-rayed heads round a solid yellow dome
Scentless mayweed - Tripleurospermum inodorum.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Scentless mayweed
Archaeophyte · annual, flowers June to October · arable land, tracks, waste ground
Tripleurospermum inodorum — Asteraceae
Scentless mayweed is the commonest white daisy-like plant of arable fields, farm tracks and building sites, with finely thread-like leaves and no smell at all. An ancient weed found in Bronze Age sites, it produces enormous quantities of long-lived seed and is still on the increase.
How to spot them
- ▸Daisy-like heads 3-5 cm across: white rays around a domed yellow centre; rays spread flat or droop slightly
- ▸Very finely divided, thread-like, hairless leaves with no scent when crushed
- ▸Bushy, branching annual to about 80 cm
- ▸The yellow central cone is solid inside, not hollow
- ▸Look-alikes: scented mayweed (wild chamomile) is aromatic with a hollow cone and reflexed rays; pineapple weed has no white rays; sea mayweed has fleshy leaves on the coast; stinking chamomile has a foul smell
How to know it
Told from a fragrant relative, used for chamomile tea, by having a solid, not hollow, yellow central cone and no apple-like smell
Scentless mayweed (scented mayweed, Matricaria chamomilla, is the look-alike).
Its genus name means 'three-ribbed seed', from the fruits
Scentless mayweed - Tripleurospermum.
An archaeophyte, with a continuous archaeological record from the Bronze Age onwards
Scentless mayweed - BSBI.
A prolific seeder whose seeds stay viable in the soil for years, so it is set to keep spreading on disturbed, fertile ground
Scentless mayweed - BSBI.
A rank-smelling arable relative with foetid leaves, once a common cornfield weed, is quite different in scent
Scentless mayweed (stinking chamomile, Anthemis cotula).
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Asteraceae; the Latin inodorum means 'scentless'
- •BSBI: an archaeophyte, archaeologically known from the Bronze Age
- •Grows on disturbed fertile soils: arable fields, tracks, gateways, roadsides, railway ballast, quarries and spoil heaps
- •Very large seed production and a long-lived seed bank (BSBI)
- •The receptacle (the yellow centre) is solid, in contrast with the hollow cone of scented mayweed
- •Sea mayweed, Tripleurospermum maritimum, is a perennial coastal relative with fleshy leaves
- •Often abundant in stubble fields and newly disturbed ground on building sites
- •Stinking chamomile (Anthemis cotula) is a foul-smelling arable relative that has declined with modern farming
Drill it — 6 cards
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Sources
- BSBI — Tripleurospermum inodorum